Shades of Them
by Tea's
Summary: Four snippets; a tiny peek into the various shades of Gaara and Sakura. Written back in January for the 2013 GaaSaku Month event.


**A/N: **Just a few short drabbly things written back in January on Tumblr for the GaaSaku month event but never got around to uploading it here. I've lumped them all in one chapter since they range from pretty short to even shorter, and I'd likely just annoy people if I upload them separately.

All of them are written with prompts or specific requests in mind, but they also crept out of some kind of head canon where Sakura and Gaara are sort of already in a relationship... I think. The latter explains the somewhat lame title of this collection, unfortunately.

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**01. In which there is comfort**

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"Gaara?"

She finds him on the roof, just a mere silhouette against the desert sky this late at night. He doesn't respond, but the slight turn of his head in her direction tells Sakura her presence isn't unwelcome.

Sleep, though possible now, still doesn't come easily for Gaara. It grows fitful at times, and Sakura can only imagine the things he dreams about. He's never told her, and she's never asked. And on some nights, he comes out here, staring far into the vast desert beyond his village, with thoughts she can't reach.

Some things, Sakura knows, are from a time she isn't able to fully comprehend no matter how hard she may try. So she drapes a thick robe around his shoulders to help ward off the chill, then sits with him, lending him comfort where words can't.

"Does it ever go away?"

The question comes quietly, hollow and tired all at once.

He's looking down at his hands like they hold nightmares he doesn't recognize, and Sakura reaches for them, asking him to look at her. She thinks of the thousands of lives he's saved, the people in Suna who are devoted to him, all the warmth he's brought into her life — and she kisses the palms of his hands, softly.

Then she raises them to her cheek — the hands that she knows are much more than he sees — and she tells him, "They've saved people, too."

Gaara doesn't say anything, but his eyes soften and he leans forward to rest his head against her shoulder with a quiet exhale of breath.

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**02. In which a holiday takes shape**

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Holidays have never meant much to Gaara. He has spent too many of such days wandering the streets alone as a child, watching families huddle close to each other, the foreign sounds of laughter spilling over one another.

"Holidays are special days we spend with our loved ones," Yashamaru tells him once.

Then the years go by, and the holidays become a time where he occasionally makes an appearance at a festival or two as Kazekage. Mostly, this is marked by Temari coming around his office in an attempt to get him to ease up, or so Kankurou tells him.

"You're supposed to rest during the holidays," Temari would say. "It's a time to _relax_. You know, enjoy yourself a little."

Usually, he nods and replies, "I see."

He allows his sister to pull him away sometimes, though other times, he goes back to work — because a Kazekage's job doesn't ever really end.

The truth is, for all that he has learned about such things, holidays continue to feel like a strange concept to Gaara. The idea of it remains elusive, something he's not sure he grasps fully the way others do.

But on nights when he arrives home to find Sakura asleep on his bed — when he wraps his arms around her waist and buries his face in her neck — all the tension in his body drains away.

Those moments, when he breathes in her scent and she reaches up to touch his arm, he thinks — _this is holiday_.

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**03. In which he's just a bit whipped**

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Sakura understands the responsibilities that come with being Kazekage. She doesn't demand things from him she knows he can't give, but when she gets this manic glint in her eye and starts to nag him about resting more, Gaara _listens_.

Kankurou teases him, says he's whipped, but Gaara thinks that's only because Kankurou hasn't had one of Sakura's enormous homemade soldier pills.

Yes, he listens. Because otherwise she'll show up the next day with a whole basket of those things.

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**04. In which it descends into utter crack**

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"Don't you give me that look, Gaara."

"What look?"

"Like you're raising your eyebrows at me."

"...Sakura. I don't have eyebrows."

"_Exactly._"

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**/ end**

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_Originally written: January 2013.  
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Apologies for the crack in the end ruining the quiet of the beginning. The GaaSaku in my head swings wildly between quiet solace and moments of crack... I'm not really sure why. I think even Sand Speak was attempting to edge towards some form of crack... D:

Reviews are loved, thank you!


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